Police tear-gas anti-Musharraf protest [Watch Video & Pictures]

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Pakistani lawyers protest against Musharraf regime

Click on the link below to view pictures (Courtesy Rise of Pakistan):
24 Jan 2008- Islamabad Protest of Lawyers and Police's baton charge

Pakistani riot police used tear gas and batons here on Thursday to disperse hundreds of protesters chanting slogans against President Pervez Musharraf, Agence France-Presse reporters witnessed.

Around 400 people, including lawyers, hardline Islamists and supporters of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan screamed ‘Death to Musharraf’ when police stopped them from visiting Pakistan’s former top judge.

Musharraf sacked chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry under emergency rule in November last year. Chaudhry remains under house arrest in Islamabad.

The protesters tried to break through a police barricade outside the upmarket Marriott Hotel, which is near Chaudhry’s house, but were forced back by baton-wielding police who then fired tear gas.

Waving black flags, the protesters regrouped and chanted: ‘We will lay down our lives for the chief justice.’
Former premier Nawaz Sharif was prevented from meeting Chaudhry on Wednesday.

The independent-minded Chaudhry became a pro-democracy icon when he fought back against Musharraf’s initial attempt to oust him in March 2007 on charges of misconduct.

Musharraf declared an emergency and finally sacked the judge on November 3 amid fears that the Supreme Court was set to overturn his victory in a presidential election the previous month.

Source: TV3 (NZ) & Hemscott